Notes * Finally Did It

30 some years later, I finally cut my hair short. And I love it.

Notes * 3 Years Ago Today...

I married my best friend, the love of my life, my artiechokie.

Photo by Gina & Tony Photographers, the sweetest, most genuine, happiest photographers on earth.

away to taiwan

RT and i took a rather last minute trip to taiwan to spend some time with his family.

fo guang shan in khaoshiung

night market and the plague that is scooters in taiwan.

stinky tofu. a must try if you travel to taiwan.

good morning

din tai fung? xioa long bao?? yes please!!!

standard udon but i had to share a photo of my ridiculously cute fish cakes

private hot spring <3

wisteria

calla lilies at miau-ban garden

lotus ferns. can't find these in the states :( really delicious, light and crisp

steam rising from cracks in the mountains at yangminshan. if you walk closer, you can see the yellow sulfur building up around the cracks.

new haircut :) 

 beef noodle/dumpling soup. possibly my all time favorite taiwanese food.

tsong yo bing (scallion pancake). i know this looks very "meh" but it was so delicious and completely unavailable in the states. it's not even widely available throughout taiwan! it's a new style of making scallion pancakes... i am in love!

bizarre dusty haze in tokyo... lots of turbulence as we flew into narita. by the time i got off the plane my knees were weak and i was all shaky! 

hm... there are an awful lot of food photos here. strange because i had no appetite the entire trip! my jet lag and all the bumpy bus rides we went on really took a toll on my ability to eat. i was only able to nibble on all of these delicious things. but now that i look at them... i'm getting really hungry...

she's here!

she's here! she's here! she's finally here!! my little niece, we've waited so long to meet you.
you are so loved.

journaling

year of the dragon

i'm a day late but happy lunar new year! it's the year of the water dragon, my mommy's sign :) and it will be my niece's too!

here's my forecast as a piggie from proastro.com

"Well isn't this just sweet. You'd expect a letdown after an extremely favorable, Rabbit year. Not likely to happen. Here comes another, 11 favorable months. Things could get hectic. There's likely to be a lot of action. And, you might find the pace just a little too much. Not to worry. Go with it, and you can score some big successes. It's time to take some risk. You especially want to be bold when it comes to education, travel, networking and communications. These can flourish in a Water year. If you were smart, you did keep in step with the Rabbit's slower pace last year. If not, you might want to start the year off slowly. Then rev up those engines and fly with the Dragon."

and here is a bit of the year's forecast:

Hail mighty Dragon! Your arrival is most welcome. People and businesses around the world have had difficult times over the last few years, so the good luck you bring is timely and needed. The Dragon is in fact the major symbol of good fortune in Chinese Astrology. The Dragon constellation, for example, is accorded the honor of being the guardian of the Eastern sky. According to tradition the Dragon brings in the Four Blessings of the East: wealth, virtue, harmony and longevity. Indeed, of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac the Dragon is the most special, as it is a mystical being rather than an earthly animal. It is sometimes called a karmic sign. In this context that means we can expect grand things this year. Bigger than life is very much a Dragon thing. There will be spectacular successes as well as crash and burn failures... Regardless of your sign, there will be significant upheavals in 2012. Soaring stock markets, natural disasters, and noteworthy, cultural and political developments will be more the norm than the exception. There will be celebrations of all kinds. And, good luck will be coming your way. Are you ready to fly with the Dragon?!

i hope the new year brings you good fortune and happiness!

little dose of love on a gloomy day

happy weekend :)

happy new year!

happy new year! i hope you had a beautiful christmas. it was a busy (but strangely also very lazy) holiday and we're finally back in boston, ready to start a new year. i'm frantically working on putting together a baby shower for my sister so i won't be around for a few weeks but i wanted to share my little daruma.

i picked up this daruma on our trip to san francisco. back in high school, i had to do a project on japan and a part of it was to make a wish on a daruma doll. the idea really stuck with me and i've loved daruma ever since. daruma come in all different sizes, shapes, colors, and styles but one thing is always the same. daruma dolls come with both eyes blank. you make a wish on your daruma, fill in one of the eyes and once it's come true, you fill in the other. it's a symbol of luck and perseverance in japan. the story goes that a monk mediated facing a wall for nine years. he mediated for so long that his legs fell off!

so i made a big wish for the new year and filled in its eye... i hope it comes true! 

here, there, everywhere

i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving! we've been traveling a lot these past couple of months and i thought i'd share a few photos from our adventures :)

after our wedding in september, we headed straight to hawaii for our honeymoon. hawaii is so gorgeous and the food! oh the food is too good.

wild chickens roam around kauai and cockadoodledoo all day long. i thought they were hilarious.

queen's bath. the waters around hawaii are so unbelievably clear.

power hang gliding. that's me in the back seat! i thought i'd be terrified but it was so much fun that i'd love to do it again.

i miss shave ice

malasadas! i'm searching for a place in boston where i can get these.

after we got back from hawaii, we packed up again for a visit to san francisco. 

our first mongolian hot pot experience. i'm not sure what they put in their broth but it was phenomenal.

i only had a few must-do's on my list and miette was one of them. everything was too pretty. i highly recommend their mini scharffen berger chocolate cake. the taste and texture are divine.

we spent thanksgiving in DC with RT's sisters. it was a wonderfully lazy weekend that included RT's 29th birthday celebration.

the national archives. i loved it here. they had on display pa ingalls's de smet homestead file. if you grew up with little house on the prairie books i'm sure you understand how cool it was to see it!

library of congress

hello mr. president!

the national postal museum. how cute is this mailbox from the netherlands?

whew, that's a lot of traveling for someone who's a total homebody. i do love to see new places but sometimes home is my favorite place to be :)

away we go

off on another adventure. be back soon :)

bunny kite by naokosstoop

another day in new york

RT and i decided to take a last minute trip to new york, our last before winter settles in and it gets too cold to walk around. we went with no real plans... a first for us! it was nice to wander around aimlessly and just enjoy the city.

m&j trimming. i love this store. this is the mother ship of all trim stores. it can definitely be overwhelming since there's so much inspiration packed in every shelf! it literally goes from floor to ceiling.

tinsel trading co. i nearly hyperventilated upon entering. this shop is GORGEOUS. most displays in the trim district focus on function rather than design. the tinsel trading co. not only has lovely inventory but the store itself like a beautiful vintage treasure chest. i walked around the store clapping my hands with joy at all the vintage goodness. i so badly wanted to take photos of the inside but i was too shy to ask.

kinokuniya. i can not stay away from this place. it's like a drug. i got another scrapbooking book and some more pretty notebooks which hopefully will be filled using inspiration from the scrapbooking book. i'm going to test out a whole new scrapbooking style! new to me at least.

brunch at braai in hell's kitchen. i liked that their brunch menu offered pretty standard brunch fare but with a south african twist. makes trying new cuisines a lot less intimidating. my breakfast sandwich was made with an english muffin, eggs, spinach, onions, feta, and a tasty sauce that i couldn't identify. i loved the spicy potatoes and peppers that came with it. i think it's called chakalaka? unfortunately it took forever and was stone cold by the time it got to our table. i still inhaled it and had it been warm, it would have been perfect.

we ended our trip with tickets to how to succeed in business without really trying. we bought super discounted tickets using an online promotion and somehow ended up in the front row?! it is truly amazing to experience a broadway show up so close. especially one with dan radcliffe! i nearly fell out of my chair when he came within five feet of us. he's a pretty good singer and dancer! and i loved the set and costumes, so retro! the show itself has an incredible, infectious energy. i'm pretty sure i had a semi-crazed smile of wonderment and excitement on my face throughout the entire show. i hope i didn't freak out any of the performers.

last stop was chicken and rice and then a heartburn filled car ride back home. bye new york! see you in the spring ^_^

i'm back! and i'm back a mrs. ^_^ it's been a crazy few weeks getting married then honeymooning in hawaii. hawaii is so lovely... i dream about it while i stare at my work computer screen. it's been a bit of a struggle getting back into our normal routine. mornings are not pretty! but it's wonderful to be back and we're enjoying our new lives together as a mr. and mrs. not that it all that different... we've been together for over 7 years!

photo by mr. p - the same mr. p who did our mini e-session!

i'm really excited to share with you some of the things i made for our wedding. i love crafting but knowing that it was for our wedding made it even more enjoyable. at no point did anything feel like a burden (except for those darn programs that no one took!) and i put a lot of love and work into all the little details. hope you enjoy them too! check back soon!

beautiful, last days of summer

RT and i are getting married in 10 days (10 DAYS!) so of course things have been super crazy around here. i'm crafting 24/7 in preparation for the wedding and i can't wait to share everything with you!! and i started a new job. whew... busy summer! but in the final, lingering days of summer, there have been some lovely days. life is truly beautiful :)

top to bottom: exploring new england; a visit to the boston harbor islands; our friends' sweet, floppy, warm, chubby-foot puppy; picking korean pears at evergreen farm; fresh dak dori tang made with organic chicken at evergreen farm... amazing!!; BBQ in NH smores? yes please; remembering 9/11 at the boston public garden.